A#5 — A# power chord chord

Root and fifth only. The third is left out, so the chord is neither major nor minor and the same shape works over either.

• 1 = A#
• 5 = E#

Symbol

A#5

Root

A#

Quality

Power chord

Family

triad

Notes

A# E#

Degree formula

1 5

Semitones from the root

0 7

Distinct pitch classes

2

Interval structure

Stacked from the root: 7 semitones

Notation

Written 5. Two notes, usually doubled at the octave on the lowest strings, and the standard shape of distorted rock rhythm playing.

Key

A# · Bb major / G minor key signature

Fingering charts

The library holds 5 fingerings of this chord and all of them are shown, in the library’s own order. Several fingerings of one chord is normal: the same notes can be stopped at different positions and on different strings.

Formula

The chord tones in order from the root, with the interval each one forms above it.

Inversions

An inversion is the same set of notes with a different one in the bass. The last column gives the distance of each note above the bass note, in semitones.

Playable voicings

These shapes were found by searching the fretboard of a standard-tuned guitar (E A D G B E) rather than copied from a chord book. The search allows every string to sound or to be muted, rejects any shape with a muted string between two sounding strings, rejects any shape whose fretted notes span more than four frets (a five-fret window), requires every chord tone to be present, and then sorts what remains with root-position shapes first and the most compact, lowest shapes next. The shapes shown are the first six of that ordering; other orderings are possible at the same frets.

Shape numbers run from the lowest string to the highest, so the left-hand number is the sixth string (low E) in standard tuning. Multiple shapes are listed because a chord can be voiced several ways, and because a lower position is not always the better sounding one.

Related chords and scales

• KeyEverything in A#scale, chords and neck map for this root
• ScaleA# major pentatonicthe scale this chord comes from
• ChordA#the major it extends
• ChordA#7the seventh chord on this root

Everything in A# · All chords

Related

• ChordA# — Major1 3 5 · A# C## E#
• ChordA#7 — Dominant seventh1 3 5 b7 · A# C## E# G#
• ChordA#aug — Augmented1 3 #5 · A# C## E##
• ChordA#dim — Diminished1 b3 b5 · A# C# E
• ChordA#m — Minor1 b3 5 · A# C# E#
• DegreesBb — degree mapBb major and natural minor · frets 0–22
• Neck mapBb — note mapBb major · frets 0–22 · Bb C D Eb F G A
• KeyKey of BbBb C D Eb F G A · Bb major / G minor

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Everything in this key: A# · Chords · Theory Atlas